Background: There is limited epidemiological information on injury rates and injury mechanisms for lateral collateral ligament (LCL) and posterior cruciate ligament (PCL) injuries in male professional soccer. In addition, time trends and lay-off times for these injuries have not yet been determined.
Aim: To determine injury rates and circumstances of LCL and PCL injuries over 17 seasons in men’s professional soccer.
Methods: A prospective cohort study, in which 68 professional European soccer teams were followed over 17 consecutive seasons (2001/2002 to 2017/2018). The teams’ medical staff recorded player exposure and time-loss injuries. Lay-off time was reported as the median and the first and third quartile. Injury rate was defined as the number of injuries per 1000 player-hours.
Results: One hundred and twenty-eight LCL and 28 PCL injuries occurred during 2,554,686 h of exposure (rate 0.05 and 0.01/1000 h, respectively). The median lay-off time for LCL injuries was 15 (Q₁=7, Q₃=32) days, while it was 31 days for PCL injuries (Q₁=15, Q₃=74). The match injury rate for LCL injuries was 11 times higher than the training injury rate (0.21 vs 0.02/1000 h, rate ratio [RR] 10.5, 95% CI 7.3 to 15.1 p< 0.001) and the match injury rate for PCL injuries was 20 times higher than the training injury rate (0.056 vs 0.003/1000 h, RR 20.1, 95% CI 8.2 to 49.6, p< 0.001). LCL injuries saw a significant annual decrease of approximately 3.5% (p=0.006). In total, 58% (63/108) of all LCL injuries and 54% (14/26) of all PCL injuries were related to contact mechanism.
Conclusion: This study with prospectively registered data on LCL and PCL injuries in men’s professional soccer shows that the median lay-off from soccer for LCL and PCL injuries is approximately 2 and 4 weeks respectively. These rare knee ligament injuries typically occur during matches and are associated with a contact injury mechanism.



中文翻译：

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男子职业足球17季以上LCL和PCL损伤的流行病学数据：欧洲足联精英俱乐部损伤研究

背景：关于男性职业足球的外侧副韧带（LCL）和后交叉韧带（PCL）损伤的损伤率和损伤机理的流行病学信息有限。此外，尚未确定这些伤害的时间趋势和下岗时间。
目的：确定男子职业足球在17个赛季中的伤病率以及LCL和PCL伤的情况。
方法：一项前瞻性队列研究，在连续17个赛季（2001/2002至2017/2018）中跟踪了68支欧洲职业足球队。球队的医务人员记录了球员的暴露情况和时间损失。下岗时间被报告为中位数以及第一和第三四分位数。受伤率定义为每1000个玩家小时的受伤次数。
结果：在暴露2,554,686小时内发生了128次LCL和28次PCL损伤（分别为0.05和0.01 / 1000 h）。LCL受伤的平均下岗时间为15天（Q ₁ = 7，Q ₃ = 32）天，而PCL受伤的平均下岗时间为31天（Q ₁ = 15，Q ₃= 74）。LCL损伤的比赛伤害率是训练损伤率的11倍（0.21 vs 0.02 / 1000 h，比率[RR] 10.5，95％CI 7.3 to 15.1 p <0.001），PCL损伤的比赛伤害率是比训练损伤率高20倍（0.056 vs 0.003 / 1000 h，RR 20.1，95％CI 8.2至49.6，p <0.001）。LCL伤害每年显着下降约3.5％（p = 0.006）。总计，所有LCL损伤中的58％（63/108）和所有PCL损伤中的54％（14/26）与接触机制有关。
结论：这项针对男子职业足球中LCL和PCL伤害的前瞻性数据的研究表明，LCL和PCL伤害的足球中位裁员分别约为2周和4周。这些罕见的膝关节韧带损伤通常发生在比赛中，并且与接触损伤机制相关。